
JR BRUNER
Lit 100
January 16, 1999
My Mistress' Eyes
In this sonnet, Shakespeare seems to be very critical of this woman's physical faults. I tried to approach the poem from a comical view to be able to read it and be comfortable with it. She seems to be of African or Middle Eastern descent by his statement of the color of her eyes and wiry hair.
The first line uses the most revealing part of a person's body, the eyes. He claims that her eyes do not compare to the sun, they are dark and cold. She is of dark skin by his reference to her being dun, dark or having brown pigmentation.
The second stanza I had a problem with, a person can take it many different ways. One impression I got was she might have had a problem with her diet and just had bad breath. The other was she might have been a shameful hussy. Shakespeare claims that the other perfumes, maybe meaning other women he found to be a lot nicer. While his mistress cusses like a sailor.
Shakespeare uses as a model a goddess, whom a person would accept as having perfect physical attributes. His mistress seems to be a very large woman who seems to have problems walking.
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Words: 215
